outstanding lessons

A friend who i was helping lesson plan recieved a grade of good in a lesson observation despite extensive planning and great delivery. The observer said there were only 2 minor points on the feedback form which were enhance q& a techniques and enhance peer modelling.

He is demoralised as this seems very weak reasons not to recieve a 1 and when he spoke to his line manager and asked how he did he replied " oh they didnt turn up for mine and came in unannounced to another lesson , i didnt have a lesson plan and was doing a rehersal and i got a 1 " he said how could ya without a lesson plam and planning he replied because i had a good assignment task set.

A friend who i was helping lesson plan recieved a grade of good in a lesson observation despite extensive planning and great delivery. The observer said there were only 2 minor points on the feedback form which were enhance q& a techniques and enhance peer modelling.

He is demoralised as this seems very weak reasons not to recieve a 1 and when he spoke to his line manager and asked how he did he replied " oh they didnt turn up for mine and came in unannounced to another lesson , i didnt have a lesson plan and was doing a rehersal and i got a 1 " he said how could ya without a lesson plam and planning he replied because i had a good assignment task set.

Could you please explain the principle of 'working document' to the teachers at my school please? I recently observed a lesson where the teacher was unable to teach her planned lesson as she had marked the books and found a problem that needed another lesson. She simply annotated the lesson plan. It was a very good lesson and I actually praised her on her understanding of the working document principleand use of assessment for learning. It's often confidence though I find that means that a teacher feels they can do that and not compromise their observation.

The difference between good and outstanding is that in an outstanding lesson the learners show exceptional enjoyment and progress.

To me this means that all learners not only show the progress they could during the lesson but they are also engaged and enjoying the lesson as well.

Challenging, but not impossible. One thing this definition does well is stop you pulling a 'one off' outstanding lesson out of the bag with a class. You have to have been working in this way with them for a while to build the trust and co-operation that is required for this response.

I think it's a useful distinction. Hard to achieve, but that's why it's outstanding and not good.

Once, I went as an external examiner (heads used to do that for universities sometimes, I don't know if they still do) to observer a student teacher who was regarded by the school as being in danger of failing. The head said, "He teaches really well. The difficulty is that the children show no evidence of learning anything at all."

Agree with all points it is learning and progress that counts and not just average progress either. It is also impossible to pull off a one off outstanding lesson to get the grade for ofsted as it depends on what has gone before. i.e you need to prove through assessment and tracking that achievement and progress has been very good over the whole year/ previous years. Our ofsted inspector also emphasised the enjoyment aspect of learning, which as someone has said only happens if kids are used to it happening all the time. The actual delivery of the lesson was only a small part of the grading. He even said that a teacher could do a good lesson and if everything else was outstanding they could still get outstanding. Differentiation needs to be faultless as well as good assessment strategies during lessons. You need to know your children inside out. Did he stick ridgidly to his lesson or did he adapt it as the lesson progressed to the needs of the individual children. Personalised learning is a big issue. His poor q&a would suggest that he didnt use AFL to bring on the children and adapt to their needs.We got outstanding for our ofsted and the above issues were some of the things that gave us outstanding.

The rule of thumb would work like this:
SATISFACTORY = expectation appropriate, most children getting there.
GOOD = expectation appropriate, all children getting there with enthusiasm & because of the quality of teaching.
OUTSTANDING = expectation very challenging, children meet the objective - usually risky & the observer starting the lesson wondering if these children will ever achieve the l/o you just wrote on the board.

In short, a lesson in Y7 based on a Y7 objective is unlikely to be outstanding unless there is some other element which makes it so, i.e.
* the creative output was higher than could be expected.
* the thinking skills were higher than expected.
* there is evidence to show that the pupils were not functioning at Y7 level to start with.

Logically, this makes sense. There are thousands of Y7 classes achieving Y7 objectives every day - there's nothing outstanding about that. In fact, those who dress it up with ICT/cross-curricular links/success criteria etc. are just putting a lot more effort into achieving exactly the same outcome which the teacher next door might do through chalk & talk.

For a "capable" teacher (ie one who gets the children to learn), it is usually the pitching of the expectation which distinguishes between satisfactory / good / outstanding. I would actually say that the low % of outstanding nationally is because people tend to play it safe when OFSTED are around - they don't want to risk pitching it high and letting the children fail.

Planning is only useful when it evidences the starting point - there are other ways of doing this. Opening the lesson with an AfL activity in which the children don't succeed & ending with a plenary in which they do; the observer having your test results etc. can be equally effective.

Differentiation can often be a barrier to outstanding, as it is often interpreted as expecting less of some pupils: it will only help achieve an outstanding if it involves scaffolding the lowers to a high expectation. A lesson without differentiation in which everyone achieves the same high expectation is more likely to be outstanding (although less likely to happen).

In short then - it is very likely that the two original posters are both highly competent, but the one who was graded outstanding had an objective which lent itself to the description of "exceptional progress".

(I have been outstanding in my last three OFSTEDs - start from the basis of wording your objective carefully and opening your lesson with something that makes the observer wonder if those children will ever meet it - then prove that they can).

Very interesting stuff,
I was wondering what people mean when they say they got good with 'outstanding features?' What could those 'features' be? and why would they have got a 'good'. Can 'questioning' or 'behaviour' be classed as outstanding, while the lesson is a good?? Do people just interpret the positive comments as 'outstanding features'.

This is an excellent answer.
Outstanding lessons have this extra spark, a little 'Je ne sais quoi' that makes learning extra special for the children.
If this was easy to achieve, then we would have to have a new category! It is a bit like getting an A* (and not just an A) at GCSE!